Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Austrian Tobias Haller has made the 6th ascent of Evilution Direct (v11) in a proud effort at the end of the day today. After slipping at the last hard moves with his foot skating from the edge of the boulder's lip and taking a frightening fall, he was able to summon just enough energy to get the problem done a short while later. Interestingly he is the first person (as far as I'm aware) to climb the line with no prior inspection from a rope, preferring to watch, learn from others, and go for the boulder ground up. No doubt he was helped in his goal by the recent popularity of the line--plenty of beta, well-chalked holds--and the enormous numbers of pads being brought daily to the base of the Grandpa Peabody. Three-deep is now standard for pads below this face it seems! So why not go for it ground up? Great ascent from Tobias!

Bishop Bouldering, 2nd Edition

"I got the Bishop Bouldering guide in the mail today. All I can say is WOW. Arguably the best looking guidebook I have ever seen. Almost a piece of art. Beautiful pictures, high quality construction -- truly awesome. Good job!" ... Tim Kemple, Pro Photographer.